Smash has two Bay Area Locations. One Gym is Near Levi Stadium in Sunnyvale on Lawrence and Tasman and our other Gym is on Quimby and Capital Expressway across the street from Eastridge Mall in San Jose.

Smash Gyms is known for our unique variety of fitness and martial arts options! Our kickboxing program is a favorite class to participants of all ages and experience levels. Smash Gyms Kickboxing classes are filled with people from different backgrounds who come together to get a fun workout while learning from amazing instructors! East San Jose Kickboxing and Evergreen Kickboxing Classes are available at our Quimby Road and Capital Expressway Location! You can also train kickboxing near Levi Stadium on Tasman and Lawrence Expressway at our location on the border of Santa Clara and Sunnyvale!

People who know Mario Rios know two things about him. He is super nice and he knows A LOT about grappling! Mario is a very caring and passionate instructor. He has been involved in wrestling, judo and BJJ for almost 20 years. This incredible experience in grappling provides a wealth of information anyone interested in advancing his or her grappling knowledge. If you take Mario’s classes you can look forward to highly detailed technical instruction explained in a way that you can easily understand and implement right away. He has helped many people advance in the grappling arts with his organized and systematic approach to grappling.

Mario started his training with grappling in 1995 while he was a student at Fresno State College. In Fresno, there were no Jiu-Jitsu studios, so he started working out his house with Jason Hannen, now a black belt at Pacific Martial Arts. Most of the techniques were drills based on Renzo and Craig Kukuk videos, since youtube was nonexistent, and information was hard to come by.

Mario Rios & Jason Hannen BJJ Black Belts

In those early days Mario sought out other Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu students who were commuting long distances to train at some of the Gracie Academies and began training regularly with them. Some of these partners were wrestlers from Fresno Pacific and Fresno State. During this time, Mario was also training at the Fresno Judo Club before moving from the area.

Mario Teaching Classes at Smash

After completing college, Mario was faced with the decision to relocate. He had two requirements, finding a job, and finding his passion, Jiu Jitsu. Mario found both and moved to the Bay Area in 1996. In the beginning, he took classes with Claudio Franca. Although he enjoyed the classes because of such a long commute to Santa Cruz, he decided to train in Mountain View at Ralphs. Training at Ralphs was a great experience. Mario was able to train with some of the premier grapplers at the time and began to really understand the dedication necessary to excel at this art.

In 1999 began training with Michael Jen. Michael’s unique approach and attention to detail was different from the Jiu-Jitsu he had experienced in his earlier training. Mario was impressed with Michael’s highly detailed instruction and his openness to share techniques.

BJJ Black Belts!

In 2010, when the first Smash Gyms opened Mario immediately became a leader in the gym and helped many people in different programs. The environment and resources that Smash provided motivated Mario to focus and push himself until he received his Black Belt in 2011 from Michael Jen. Mario believes Smash Gyms amazing instructors and members helped push him to reach his long-time goal of becoming a BJJ Black Belt. After seeing the incredible growth of Smash and the value that it has brought to our members, he decided he wanted to help open another Smash in San Jose. Mario is co-owner of San Jose Smash Gyms and will be working full-time and teaching BJJ classes along with fellow BJJ Black Belts Rudy Sanchez and Michael Jen. Mario’s goal is to bring as much value as possible to Smash members in Evergreen and East San Jose.

Smash Gyms is very proud to announce another awesome addition to our staff. Imanuel “Manny” Rocha is martial artist, athlete and personal trainer. Manny’s passion for fitness and martial arts make him a fun and popular personal trainer and coach. His willingness to help people of all fitness and experience levels have helped him grow a loyal following of students and training partners.

Manny Rocha Won his Boxing debut by KO!

Manny once weighed 289lbs and through martial arts and fitness has discovered a path to reaching his potential. After losing 90lbs he is excited to give back what he has learned along his journey to the members at Smash Gyms.

As a personal trainer Manny's work ethic is contagious!

In his goal to become a well-rounded martial artist Manny has trained and competed in boxing, jiu-jitsu, tae kwon do, kickboxing and kenpo karate. He has trained with World Champion Kickboxer and coach Mike Winkeljohn, trained with world champion boxer Danny Romero, with MMA champions Nick & Nate Diaz, and BJJ Blackbelt Phil Torres. He has sought out the best coaching possible and looks forward to passing on his skills and knowledge to his students.

Manny Rocha with his striking coach Mike Winkeljohn

Manny is teaching beginner friendly classes at Smash San Jose 5 days a week! Boxing at 7:30pm on Monday & Wednesday and 6:30pm on Fridays and Kickboxing on Tuesday & Thursday at 6:30pm. Kids Kickboxing and boxing coming soon. All the classes at Smash focus on providing you with a great workout, learning something and most importantly having FUN!

Manny is now just as sought after for his personal training services at Smash as his striking skills. Manny specializes in helping women and men reach their fitness goals through motivating and affordable personal training sessions. His experience as a Personal Trainer with Golds Gym coupled with his versatile martial arts background makes for unique and fun fitness training sessions. He is a very popular trainer so call soon while he still has openings!